Individual presentation:
• Michael Britton:
Genuine Recovery from the 20th Century: Possibility Amid Historical Trauma’s Re-enactments
(60 min)

Abstract:

Historical trauma alters us, including our sense of the kind of world we’re in and what we need to be to get by in that world.  We’ll examine the twentieth century’s one hundred years of warring around the world, a traumatic time of living amid aggression, violence and killing.  Using neurobiology to understand both historical trauma and recovery, we’ll look at identifications born amid the last century’s life of aggression and threat, and what it would mean in our own century to genuinely recover from that time’s impact.  We’ll look at the eras of neoliberalism and (now) authoritarian regimes as enactments of continued identification with trauma and aggression frequently masking themselves in illusions of recovery. We’ll examine what genuine recovery would be like and the nature of the work required for getting there. This will be a conversation in support of optimism.

Keywords: aggression, authoritarianism, historical trauma, identification, neoliberalism, neurobiology, psychohistory, recovery

Short Bio:

Michael Britton, Ed.D., Vice-President of IPHA, Board Member of the Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies Network, Co-Founder of New Jersey Psychologists for Social Responsibility, Retired Psychotherapist. Conducted interview research with high level US military responsible for nuclear weapons build-up during the Cold War; and did research on qualities of parenting that enable children to grow up and do well with love in their lives. He can be reached at .